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Speaker 1: Our bases need to be strong and secure. This so

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Speaker 1: Iran or any other country knows that there is a

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Speaker 1: cost to hitting US troops not act surprised when they

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Speaker 1: test US. You've got US military bases on high alert

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Speaker 1: because of concerns about Iranian retaliation amid the war with Iran.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, you're.

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Speaker 1: Listening to Casey and Jim. It is ninety three WIBC

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Speaker 1: on the first day of Spring. Not here just yet.

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Speaker 1: It is on the way at exactly ten forty six.

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Speaker 1: That's when you can start celebrating spring.

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Speaker 2: Forty one minutes to go.

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Speaker 1: But you've got some bases in the US. They've already

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Speaker 1: taken some steps. One of the things that they have

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Speaker 1: done is they have asked service members not to wear

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Speaker 1: uniforms when they're off base. This is for safety reasons.

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Speaker 1: And there have been some reports of drones near some

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Speaker 1: military bases in Washington, DC. That has raised some security worries,

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Speaker 1: and overseas, we know that US bases have already been targeted.

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Speaker 1: So don't wear your uniform when you're off base, because

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Speaker 1: you're just telling everybody exactly what you do.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and there military is concerned that'll make those people

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Speaker 2: a target. And that's a legitimate concern. So far, since

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Speaker 2: this military action in Iran has started, we've had four

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Speaker 2: lone wolf attacks against Americans on American soil. We had

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Speaker 2: the shooting in Austin, we had the issue in the synagogue,

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Speaker 2: and up near Detroit, we had the shooting at Old Dominion,

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Speaker 2: and then the attempted bombing that happened in New York City.

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Speaker 2: So this is a very legitimate concern. And I think

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Speaker 2: this is I just feel like a lot of people

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Speaker 2: in this country kind of got caught off guard with

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Speaker 2: what's going on in Iran, and I think it surprised

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Speaker 2: a lot of people. So normally when the US is

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Speaker 2: about to take military action, there's a large ramp up,

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Speaker 2: there's a discussion about it, and there's putting our troops

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Speaker 2: in place, and then there's this discussion on the allies

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Speaker 2: and the will they won't they? That goes back and

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Speaker 2: forth for months and months and months, and it kind

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Speaker 2: of prepares everybody for that, not only in this country

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Speaker 2: but around the world. Okay, this is getting, you know,

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Speaker 2: potentially more imminent. This might actually happen. But Donald Trump

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Speaker 2: loves the element of surprise. Example number one, what we

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Speaker 2: did in Venezuela by snatching their president Maduro and putting

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Speaker 2: him in a New York jail cell. So he wanted

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Speaker 2: to go into this. And you've seen a lot of

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Speaker 2: handwringing and pearl clutching from our allies. Oh you didn't

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Speaker 2: discuss this with us. No, this is war and the

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Speaker 2: art and the element of surprise is maybe the most

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Speaker 2: important part of it. And Donald Trump loves that. And

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Speaker 2: so I just get this sense that we have not

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Speaker 2: had this build up to prepare ourselves for things like

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Speaker 2: this and get ourselves on this war footing. And so

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Speaker 2: it's not a surprise that this military that you know,

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Speaker 2: the military has come out and said, hey, we need

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Speaker 2: to button up security a little a little bit more,

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Speaker 2: and part of that is not wearing your uniform off base.

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Speaker 2: I found it very interesting. There was a widely reported

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Speaker 2: story in the media and on social media yesterday about

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Speaker 2: a French sailor aboard their single aircraft carrier that they

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Speaker 2: have who was wearing his fitness device like his fitbit

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Speaker 2: or whatever, and he was, you know, running around the

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Speaker 2: aircraft carrier and getting some exercise, and his geolocation information

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Speaker 2: was made public and so everybody in the world knew,

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Speaker 2: at least for a period of time yesterday exactly where

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Speaker 2: that French aircraft carrier in the sea was located. Again,

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Speaker 2: back to the point, it just didn't seem like we

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Speaker 2: had much time to get ourselves on a war footing,

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Speaker 2: and things like what happened with the French aircraft carrier

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Speaker 2: and now putting some restrictions on our military personnel when

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Speaker 2: they go off bases. It feels like we're playing catch

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Speaker 2: up on a lot of that stuff.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so we were told initially that this could take

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Speaker 1: between four and six weeks, but now it does seem

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Speaker 1: like maybe the Pentagon is planning or preparing for an

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Speaker 1: extended campaign because they're asking for another two hundred billion dollars.

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Speaker 1: I saw an article yesterday that Reuter's put out that

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Speaker 1: said ground troops were preparing to send in more ground

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Speaker 1: troops or send in ground troops, and then an hour later,

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump was asked about that in the Oval Office,

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Speaker 1: about putting troops anywhere, and this was his response.

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Speaker 3: Potentially US troops were more troops in the region.

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Speaker 2: No, I'm not putting troops anywhere.

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Speaker 3: If I were, it wouldn't tell you.

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Speaker 4: But I'm not putting troops, and we will do whatever

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Speaker 4: is necessary to keep the price.

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Speaker 3: I actually thought when I did this.

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Speaker 1: He went on to talk about the price of oil

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Speaker 1: and gas, and if oil price is stay as high

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Speaker 1: as they are for a year, that's an extra forty

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Speaker 1: dollars added cost per household. The national average diesel price

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Speaker 1: five dollars and five cents per gallon, and you've got

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Speaker 1: continuing prices. The thing that a lot of people are

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Speaker 1: starting to talk about when it comes to the price

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Speaker 1: of things is not even the gas, but we've got

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Speaker 1: planting season coming up for agriculture, and that fertilizer is

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Speaker 1: costing more now. That means even if the price of

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Speaker 1: gas goes down next week, for example, your groceries are

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Speaker 1: still going to be more expensive in a year from

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Speaker 1: now when everything is harvested, because the the fertilizer used

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Speaker 1: today is more expensive.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, fertilizer. There's a lot of petroleum products that are

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Speaker 2: used in fertilizer, and so yeah, you're gonna have that heavy,

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Speaker 2: high sunk cost now for farmers that they're going to

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Speaker 2: want to get a return on even you know, in

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Speaker 2: the fall, even if oil prices come down. Back to

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Speaker 2: that reporter asking that question about, you know, Donald Trump

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Speaker 2: and whether or not he's going to send in ground troops.

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Speaker 2: But we've got to keep in mind here, Donald Trump.

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Speaker 2: You I don't care what question you ask. If you

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Speaker 2: are in a press conference with Donald Trump talking about

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Speaker 2: this war, Donald Trump is not going to tell you

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Speaker 2: what he's really thinking. Okay, he's not going to tell

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Speaker 2: you If you ask him if he puts ground troops

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Speaker 2: in there, he's gonna say no because he wants everybody

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Speaker 2: in the world, most importantly Iran, to think that we're

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Speaker 2: not going to send ground troops in there, and he

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Speaker 2: wants that element of surprise. So I it's funny to

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Speaker 2: watch this media get all said, well, Donald Trump just said,

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Speaker 2: we won the war, but we're still having problems here.

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Speaker 2: We've completely degraded their navy and it's completely gone. Well,

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Speaker 2: Donald Trump's gonna say a lot of things, and he's

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Speaker 2: going to have a lot of hyperbole. And by the way,

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Speaker 2: he's also going to say a lot of things to

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Speaker 2: you that aren't true because he wants that untruth to

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Speaker 2: get back to our enemies. You have to take everything

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Speaker 2: that he says during this military conflict with Iran with

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Speaker 2: a grain of salt. We talked about it. To open

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Speaker 2: the show, Donald Trump said, Oh, we don't want Europe's

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Speaker 2: help in opening up the straight of horror moves anymore.

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Speaker 2: Donald Trump, he didn't mean that. He really would love

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Speaker 2: it if Europe would kind of send some ships over

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Speaker 2: and help us out with that. But that was good.

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Speaker 2: He was speaking when he said we don't want their help.

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Speaker 2: He was speaking to the leaders of Europe and saying, fine,

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Speaker 2: you don't want to do this, We'll do it on

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Speaker 2: our own, and we'll take every all the benefits that

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Speaker 2: come along with it. And all of a sudden, Europe

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Speaker 2: was like, no, no, no, no, well, we'll send some boats.

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Speaker 2: It's okay, it's okay, mister President, We'll send some boats.

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Speaker 2: You really have to understand that Donald Trump is not

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Speaker 2: necessarily going to always be telling the truth or telegraphing

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Speaker 2: what we're going to be doing in this military campaign.

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Speaker 1: But when he said that he's not going to be

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Speaker 1: putting troops anywhere, and even if he was, he wasn't

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Speaker 1: going to tell them. Those are the words that every

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Speaker 1: American family wants to hear. Maximum pressure, precision strikes, but

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Speaker 1: keeping our soldiers home while protecting the economy. That's what

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Speaker 1: Americans want, You've got Pete Hegseth as Secretary of War,

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Speaker 1: and he was telling a story about a conversation that

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Speaker 1: he had was with his thirteen year old son.

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Speaker 4: My thirteen year old son popped into my office last

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Speaker 4: night while I was editing these remarks. He asked about

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Speaker 4: the war and the families I met at Dover. And

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Speaker 4: I looked at him and I said, they died for you, son,

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Speaker 4: so that your generation doesn't have to deal with a

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Speaker 4: nuclear Iran.

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Speaker 1: It's the truth.

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Speaker 4: And they did so. To the families who said finish this,

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Speaker 4: we will. And I say the same to every American

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Speaker 4: who wants peace through strength. May Almighty God continue to

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Speaker 4: bless our troops in this fight. And again to the

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Speaker 4: American people, please pray for them every day on bend

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Speaker 4: in d with your family, in your schools, in your churches,

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Speaker 4: in the name of Jesus Christ.

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Speaker 1: Honoring sacrifice absolutely matters, But so does making sure that

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Speaker 1: the next generation doesn't inherit another endless conflict.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's all what all of us want in this.

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Speaker 2: And I've said this since the very beginning. If you

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Speaker 2: know at the end of this, whenever that is, whether

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Speaker 2: it's weeks or months or years from now. God forbid

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Speaker 2: that Donald Trump can say, Okay, we won, we can

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Speaker 2: declare victory. And if he can sell that to the

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Speaker 2: American people and the American people buy it, then it'll

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Speaker 2: be viewed as worth it. But I do find it

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Speaker 2: interesting that we just talked about how you really can't

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Speaker 2: believe anything Donald Trump says, and he says all these

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Speaker 2: crazy things, and it may be a lot more strategic

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Speaker 2: than what you think initially when Donald Trump says crazy things.

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Speaker 2: I do think it's a good idea that he is

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Speaker 2: sending out his cabinet and other people in his administration

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Speaker 2: to have the tough conversations. We saw this with JD.

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Speaker 2: Vance yesterday or the day before, where he came out

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Speaker 2: and talked about, look, I understand that gas prices are high,

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Speaker 2: and that's going to hurt American family these you know, finances,

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Speaker 2: and acknowledge it, and acknowledge it and say, look, we're

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Speaker 2: going to hopefully get this done as fast as we

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Speaker 2: can so we can get gas prices down. In oral,

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Speaker 2: somebody needs to have that conversation with the American people.

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Speaker 2: That's not Donald Trump's strength. Okay, fine, it's a good move.

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Speaker 2: On his part by sending people out like Jade Vance

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Speaker 2: to have this conversation. And it's a good move by

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Speaker 2: having the Secretary of War Pete Heagseth have this conversation

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Speaker 2: and talk about, you know, the sacrifices that our American

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Speaker 2: military are making and how it is going to be

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Speaker 2: worth it. So I think it's smart from Trump knowing

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Speaker 2: that that's not his strength to have difficult conversations like that,

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Speaker 2: that he sends out other people in his administration to

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Speaker 2: have those conversations.

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Speaker 1: Here, you've got Sergeant Dakota Meyers, he saved thirty six

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Speaker 1: US Marines in Afghanistan in two thousand and nine. He

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Speaker 1: left the Marine Corps fifteen years ago, but he recently

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Speaker 1: re enlisted, said because he wants to be part of

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Speaker 1: Pete Hegseth's military.

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Speaker 3: Hasn't been a single basis. I got out fifteen years ago.

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Speaker 3: I didn't wake up and truly want to serve again

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Speaker 3: and truly want to wear and put this uniform on again.

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Speaker 3: And to be able to do that is such an awesome,

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Speaker 3: awesome honor of mine. And I didn't want to do

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Speaker 3: it because of the rank. I didn't want to do

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Speaker 3: it for recognition. I just did it because the mission

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Speaker 3: never left me. I just think that once you're in

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Speaker 3: the fight like that fight is just never going to

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Speaker 3: leave you. I just love this country and I love

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Speaker 3: the people of America with every moral fiber of my being,

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Speaker 3: and I believe in that with everything that I've got.

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Speaker 1: The Department of War, they have made the mission about

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Speaker 1: the alpha again. It's no more woke in the military.

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Speaker 1: And that's a great recruiting tool because you've got these

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Speaker 1: soldiers who see the change and want to be a

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Speaker 1: part of it. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: And what I loved about what that guy said there,

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Speaker 2: he said, you know what, We're in the fight now,

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Speaker 2: so let's get to it on this. And I think

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Speaker 2: that's the way a lot of Americans feel. You can

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Speaker 2: agree or disagree for the reasonings of why we're having

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Speaker 2: this military action in Iran. You can question, and that's

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Speaker 2: fine and that's great. But when it comes to our military, now,

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Speaker 2: we're there, so let's go there and let's do whatever

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Speaker 2: we got to do to get it done and get

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Speaker 2: it over with.

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Speaker 1: So the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice,

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Speaker 1: they have approved a Nextstar Media Group's merger with Techna.

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Speaker 1: The deal is worth six point two billion dollars creates

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Speaker 1: one of the largest local television broadcasting companies in the

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Speaker 1: entire country. A little bit of consolidation going on.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you're going to hear a lot about this, and

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Speaker 2: you'll hear a lot about it from the from the

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Speaker 2: Democrats and the left to talk about you know, you know,

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Speaker 2: one company owning all of these radio stay or television

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Speaker 2: station rather that, and that's too much control. Here's the problem.

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Speaker 2: The economics of the local television business right now not

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Speaker 2: so great, not so great at all. And in fact,

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Speaker 2: the vast majority of local television is being supported by

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Speaker 2: live sports and local news, and it's a struggle to

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Speaker 2: operate these companies. And the way that these companies can

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Speaker 2: continue to function go going forward is through consolidation. Because

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Speaker 2: when they do this, when you buy up a lot

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Speaker 2: of television stations across the country, there's a lot of

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Speaker 2: redundant employees, there's a lot of redundant contracts, a lot

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Speaker 2: of redundant costs, and so they can cut costs during

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Speaker 2: this process that allow them to keep operating. Television news business,

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Speaker 2: the local television business not a great business to be

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Speaker 2: in right now, because they're under a lot of pressure,

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Speaker 2: and so you'll see a lot of pushback about this,

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Speaker 2: but it's the way of keeping these companies operating.

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Speaker 1: Going for You're going to see a lot of critics

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Speaker 1: who are going to say, well, this is a concentration

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Speaker 1: of media power. Of course, there's supporters that say it's

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Speaker 1: going to strengthen local broadcasting and competitiveness. What you really want,

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Speaker 1: what you should be wanting, is reliable local journalism, and

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Speaker 1: this merger might be the only way to keep some

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Speaker 1: local stations alive in tough markets.

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Speaker 2: Right, especially if you're getting most of your revenue, if

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Speaker 2: your local television station you're getting most of your revenue

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Speaker 2: through live sports, great, wonderful, and you're getting a good

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Speaker 2: bit from local news. But local news is really really

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Speaker 2: expensive to hire all of those anchors and reporters and

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Speaker 2: producers and equipment and build the studio and do all

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Speaker 2: of that. If we don't see my fear is, if

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Speaker 2: you don't see consolidation like this in local television, there's

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Speaker 2: going to be some local television stations that are just like,

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Speaker 2: well they don't go away, but they certainly shut down

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Speaker 2: their local news operation. They're like, we can't be profitable

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Speaker 2: by running this local news anymore and all the employees

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Speaker 2: that it takes to do this. So we're just going

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Speaker 2: to stop doing local news and we'll show you our

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Speaker 2: network programming. You'll get Survivor every night, in the Bachelorette,

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Speaker 2: and then we'll show you NFL football.

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Speaker 1: And not Bachelorette. We'll get to that coming.

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Speaker 2: Out that's later. I said that on purpose, but that's

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Speaker 2: what you'll see because you've seen it. There have been

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Speaker 2: instances around this country where there have been local news

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Speaker 2: stations that are just like, you know what, can't afford

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Speaker 2: to do local news anymore. We're going to shut it down.

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Speaker 2: The ideally big mega mergers like this, we'll keep that

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Speaker 2: from happening.

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Speaker 1: Next Star has agreed to sell off six stations over

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Speaker 1: the next two years to address some of the regulatory concerns.

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Speaker 1: The merger is still going to face some challenges. It

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Speaker 1: may not be finalized exactly as it's currently planned, but

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Speaker 1: we'll see what happens. You're listening to ninety three WYBC